Internal combustion engine



.s 1933- o FRENCH 1,926,040

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed March 14, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 12, 1933. L. o. FRENCH INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 14, 1930 Patented Sept. 12, 1933 UNITED SA'TES INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Louis 0. French, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application March 14,

4 Claims.

The invention relates to internal combustion engines and more particularly to those using liquid fuel.

One object of the invention is to provide an internal combustion engine wherein the liquid fuel is introduced directly into the engine in the form of a non-kinetic film and is efiiciently brought into contact with the combusting sup porting gases without the necessity of employing auxiliary means such as those disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 417,98 filed Jan. 2, 1930.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel combustion chamber and fuel feed arrangement utilizing a fuel film feed directly to the engine cylinder, where such engines are of the four cycle type, and a valve or valves is or are disposed in an offset relation to the cylinder bore.

The invention further makes possible a method of forming combustible mixtures in engines of the type using auxiliary ignition wherein the difiiculties of manifold condensation and other problems incident to getting fuel into the engine cylinder have been overcome.

The invention further consists in the several features hereinafter set forth and more particularly defined by claims at the conclusion hereof.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a sectional view through an internal combustion engine embodying the invention, taken on the line 11 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view taken on the broken line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional View taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View through an engine embodying the invention, showing certainmodifications and taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 5; .Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; v

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4. I

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, the numeral 8 designates the cylinder, 9 the piston working in the bore 10 of said cylinder, 11 the cylinder head, 12 the inlet valve controlling the passage of air through the port 13, and 14 the exhaust valve controlling the passage of exhaust gases through the port 15, the piston on the compression stroke, in a high compression engine, preferably approaching the head to within or close to the thickness of the gasket 16 so as to force substantially all the gases undergoing 1930. Serial No. 435,801

compression into the combustion chamber 1'7 off-set from the end of the cylinder.

The combustion chamber 1'7 is formed by a recess 18 in the upper end of the cylinder block and a recess 19 in the head and communicates restrictedly with the upper end of the cylinder through a tangentially disposed passage 20 forming a continuation of the recess 18. Thus the combustion chamber is formed for the most part by the space between the oppositely disposed valves 12 and 14 which, as usual, are held closed by springs, not shown, and operated by any suitable valve gear to provide the usual four cycle operation.

The fuel feeding means is mounted in the cylinder block and comprises a movable member 21, preferably in the form of a flat-faced valve, which is in sealing or seating engagement with the top face 22 of the cylinder block and whose head works in a recess 23 formed in the head 11 and whose stem extends through a guide bore 24 in the cylinder block and carries a gear 25 for-intermittent, progressive rotation or oscillation by any suitable 'mechanism. This member 21 is held to its seat by a spring 26 interposed between said cylinder and the gear 25. It is also so mounted in the cylinder head that its feeding surface projects over the top of the passage 20 so that the gases passing to or from the cylinder and combustion chamber sweep over its exposed fuel-carrying surface 21' and it may, as shown in Fig. 1, project out over the cylinder bore and where this is the case the top of the piston 'may be slightly relieved at this point, if said piston is otherwise designed, to have its top come substantially flush with the top of the cylinder at the end of its out stroke. Liquid fuel is supplied to the seating surface of the member 21 at one point through a con duit 27, in the cylinder block, receiving liquid fuel from any suitable source of supply, either by gravity or by a suitable pumping system. By reason of the seating engagement the seats are sealed against the passage of gases from the combustion chamber and againstthe escape of fuel along the stem.

The action of the two relatively movable sealing surfaces causes fuel to be deposited between them in the form of a film, due to capilarity, oiliness of the fuel and its viscosity, and be carried by the movable member 21 to a position over the passage 20 where it is exposed to the gases passing therethrough. The movement of the member 21 takes place at that time in the cycle during which it is desired to feed the fuel and depending primarily upon the extent or are of movement of said member will depend the amount of fuel furnished per cycle.

In the modification shown in Figs. 4 to 6, in-

elusive, the numeral 28 designates the cylinder, 29 the piston working in the bore 30 of the cylinder, 31 the cylinder head, 32 a valve controlling a port 33 for both the inlet of air and ex haust of products of combustion from the cylinder, the piston preferably closely approaching the head so as to force substantially all the gases undergoing compression into the combustion chamber 34 formed in the head over the valve 32 and in restricted communication with the end of the cylinder through the tangentially inclined passage 35 overlying a portion of the cylinder.

In this instance the fuel feeding and metering member or valve 36 is mounted in the cyl-v inder head 31 in sealing or seating engagement with the bottom face 37 of said head. The head of said valve works in a recess 38 in the cylinder block and its stem extends through a guide bore 39 in the cylinder head. This valve 36 is held to its seat in the same way-as the member 21 and is adapted to be similarly rotated or oscillated and is so mounted in the head that its feeding surface 40 projects over a portion of the bottom of the'passage 35 so that gases passing to or from the cylinder and the combustion chamber or inlet chamber sweep over this exposed surface 40.

As in the first-described construction, liquid fuel is supplied to the seatingsurface of the member 36 at one point through a conduit 41,

here formed in the cylinder head, either by gravity or by a suitable pumping system and on the rotation of said member it acts in the same way as the member 21 to expose fuel on the surface 40 in the form of a film.

The time at which the fuel film is delivered to the engine will depend upon the cycle used whether constant volume or partly constant volume and partly constant pressurethe fuel, the compression pressure and the speed. The member 21 or member 3'7 may start to deliver its charge at the beginning of compression and continue to the end thereof, or it may possibly start during the suction stroke for medium compression engines, or it may be delayed until late inthe compression stroke for high or autoignition compression engines. Volatile fuels, such as gasoline or its substitutes, maybe used in the engine under higher compression pressures than in carburettor type engines because the introduction of fuel may be delayed and definitely timed to avoid detonation. Heavier fuels with increased compression may be used, the heat of the air serving to vaporize such fuel, and in both instances the thin, film-like conditionthereof permitting ready vaporization. Furthermore, it is to be noted that the fuel air ratio of the mixture is gradually built up to form the charge and this assists in eliminating detonative tendencies. As the thickness of the fuel film produced as above described may be less than two-thousandths of an inch, it will be appreciated that the fuel is in good condition for ready and quick mixing with the air in the combustion chamber when exposed to the same. Also, while the members 21 or 37 may be cooled by the action of the cooling medium of the engine, a part of said member is exposed to the heat of the combustion gases so that it will be heated to some extent and thus impart its heat to the fuel and thus materially overcome the latent heat of vaporization of the same so that it will be in condition for ready vaporization when exposed to the engine gases.

Thus, for medium or high compression engines, by the end of the compression stroke the bulk of the gases compressed in the engine cylinder have been forced through the passages 20 or 35 into the chambers 17 or 32 and across the fuel film exposed on the surface 21 or 40 of the members 21 or 36 to vaporize the same so that on the firing of the charge, either by the heat of compression or some suitable ignition device, the charge burns and expands, doing work against the piston as it moves out on its power stroke and on the next stroke the products of combustion are expelled from the cylinder. In the first-described construction I have shown both an inlet and exhaust valve and such an arrangement may be used' in the modified construction but as shown in that construction only one valve to the cylinder controls both the inlet and exhaust where engines of the character above described are used for aeroplanes and certain types of industrial uses where the exhaust may be released substantially direct to atmosphere. This one valve is shown in Fig. 6 as mounted in the cylinder block and this is preferred because of simplicity of valve gear, but it may, without departing from the invention,-be mounted in the head like the valve 12 in Fig. 2.

The use of as high compression as possible is preferred so as to obtain maximum efficiency and permit the use of heavy fuels and in most instances the fuel will be fed to the cylinder only during the compression stroke, as previously noted. However, an engine embodying the features of the invention and designed to operate on volatile fuels at such compression pressures as are used in present practice in carburettor type engines will possess distinct advantages over such engines because of the absence of fuel jetsjmanifold condensation and other problems incident to getting a vaporous mixture charge into the cylinder since with the present invention the fuel in a most efficient form for vaporization'or evaporation is introduced directly into the engine cylinder. Therefore, for lower compression operation, which, of course, would mean larger clearance spaces than those shown on the drawing either in the valve chamber or over the piston but preferably in the valve chamber, the members 21 or 36 are turned to expose the fuel film thereon during the wholeor a portion of the suction stroke and as the air enters the cylinder from either valve chamberit passes over this film, vaporizing or dispersing the same on its way to the cylinder and forms a combustible mixture therewith, which is compressed on the next stroke and then fired in the usual manner by a spark plug or other suitable ignition device to burn and expand on its power stroke and then exhaust on the next stroke of the piston.

I desire it to be understood that this invention is not to belimited to the details of construction hereinbefore set forth or to be otherwise limited except insofar as such limitations are specified in the claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

.1. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston working in said cylinder, a valve chamber adjoining and in restricted communication with the end of said cylinder, and a movable fuel carrying member adapted to project into the restricted communication of said chamber for exposing fuel in the form of a non-kinetic film to gases passing between said cylinder and chamber.

2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston Working in said cylinder, a combustion chamber adjoining and in restricted communication with the end of the cylinder and representing substantially all of the effective combustion space when the piston has completed its compression stroke, means for admitting air to said chamber and for exhaust ing products of combustion from said chamber, and a movable fuel carrying member adapted to project into the restricted communication of said chamber for exposing fuel in the form of a nonkinetic film to gases passing between said cylinder and chamber.

3, In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston working in said cylinder, a chamber adjoining said cylinder and having a passage leading to the end of the cylinder, a fuel-carrying member having a portion of its surface disposed in said passage between the end or" said cylinder and chamber and exposed to gases passing therethrough, and means for moving said member to expose fuel in the form of a film to said gases, an inlet passage for said chamber, and a valve for said inlet passage.

4. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston working in said cylinder, a combustion chamber adjoining and in restricted communication with the end of said cylinder, oppositely disposed air inlet and exhaust gas outlet passages for said chamber, valves for said passages, and a rotatable fuel carrying member adapted to project into the restricted communication of said chamber for exposing fuel in the form of a non-kinetic film to gases passing between said cylinder and chamber.

LOUIS O. FRENCH. 

